The 21st Spanish Film Festival

entertainment

Thu 19th April, 2018 – Sun 6th May, 2018

Palace Cinemas

Palace Cinemas’ annual exploration of the rich and colourful world of Spanish cinema is back once again.

From the very first film on opening night – the uproarious female-driven dance comedy The Tribe – this year promises to be unmissable. Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem appear together twice: in their most recent collaboration, true-crime drama Loving Pablo, and the first film they made together, the classic comedy from 1992 Jamon, Jamon, which is screening in a retrospective of the comic, erotic and very, very Spanish cinema of Director Bigas Luna.

This year the festival also features a celebration of films directed by women. First-time filmmaker Elena Martin’s critically lauded Júlia Is explores the alienation of generation Y through the lens of a university student on exchange. There’s an encore screening of Carla Simón’s internationally award-winning Summer 1993, a hit from last year’s festival. And there’s redemption on the horizon for an embittered sex worker in The Open Door.

To celebrate director Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar wins for Best Director and Best Film win for The Shape of Water, the festival is closing with a screening of his haunting magic realist masterpiece, Pan’s Labyrinth.

The Spanish Film Festival is at Palace Cinemas Como, Brighton Bay, Westgarth, Kino and the Astor from April 19 to May 6.